How to use Windows Alt codes in Ubuntu












2















This question was asked many times already:



Using ALT + Keycode for accents?



Ways to enter special characters? Is Alt+Numpad possible?



How can I type ASCII characters like Alt + numpad in Windows?



But none of the answers actually solve my problem. The proposed solution, using Ctrl+Shift+U is not answer to question how to use windows Alt codes.



After many months I have finally persuaded my mum to move from Vista to Ubuntu. But the Alt codes are not working there. Teach her to use the Unicode codes is not really a viable option.



Is there a way to enable the Alt codes in Ubuntu? If not native way, maybe recompiling keyboard driver, creating some wrapper, etc...



Again I'm not asking for the Unicode solution.










share|improve this question

























  • Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:05
















2















This question was asked many times already:



Using ALT + Keycode for accents?



Ways to enter special characters? Is Alt+Numpad possible?



How can I type ASCII characters like Alt + numpad in Windows?



But none of the answers actually solve my problem. The proposed solution, using Ctrl+Shift+U is not answer to question how to use windows Alt codes.



After many months I have finally persuaded my mum to move from Vista to Ubuntu. But the Alt codes are not working there. Teach her to use the Unicode codes is not really a viable option.



Is there a way to enable the Alt codes in Ubuntu? If not native way, maybe recompiling keyboard driver, creating some wrapper, etc...



Again I'm not asking for the Unicode solution.










share|improve this question

























  • Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:05














2












2








2


2






This question was asked many times already:



Using ALT + Keycode for accents?



Ways to enter special characters? Is Alt+Numpad possible?



How can I type ASCII characters like Alt + numpad in Windows?



But none of the answers actually solve my problem. The proposed solution, using Ctrl+Shift+U is not answer to question how to use windows Alt codes.



After many months I have finally persuaded my mum to move from Vista to Ubuntu. But the Alt codes are not working there. Teach her to use the Unicode codes is not really a viable option.



Is there a way to enable the Alt codes in Ubuntu? If not native way, maybe recompiling keyboard driver, creating some wrapper, etc...



Again I'm not asking for the Unicode solution.










share|improve this question
















This question was asked many times already:



Using ALT + Keycode for accents?



Ways to enter special characters? Is Alt+Numpad possible?



How can I type ASCII characters like Alt + numpad in Windows?



But none of the answers actually solve my problem. The proposed solution, using Ctrl+Shift+U is not answer to question how to use windows Alt codes.



After many months I have finally persuaded my mum to move from Vista to Ubuntu. But the Alt codes are not working there. Teach her to use the Unicode codes is not really a viable option.



Is there a way to enable the Alt codes in Ubuntu? If not native way, maybe recompiling keyboard driver, creating some wrapper, etc...



Again I'm not asking for the Unicode solution.







keyboard shortcut-keys keyboard-layout






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24









Community

1




1










asked Feb 21 '15 at 10:47









jnovachojnovacho

11314




11314













  • Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:05



















  • Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:05

















Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

– Rinzwind
Feb 21 '15 at 18:05





Besides @fabby 's answer this is the method we use in Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/a/32793/15811 Oh and do not underestimate your mother. My seventy year old mother had not problems using composed keys ;)

– Rinzwind
Feb 21 '15 at 18:05










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















4














I'm very sorry to say but you want Ubuntu to be Windows, which is not going to happen tomorrow... :-(



Ubuntu is based on Linux, and although it has "windows" than can be dragged around a "desktop" and that it adheres to the CUA like Windows, it's just not the same thing! Asking for something and ruling out all possible answers is just going to leave you with an answer like this:



Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but what you're asking for is impossible...






share|improve this answer


























  • It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:46













  • However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 19:40











  • @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

    – Fabby
    Feb 21 '15 at 20:10













  • Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 21:25








  • 1





    @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

    – jnovacho
    Feb 21 '15 at 22:05



















0














Although it's correct that you cannot type alt key codes, there is an alternative. You can enable the 'compose' key to enter special characters:



How to enable compose key in Gnome



Compose key combos






share|improve this answer























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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    4














    I'm very sorry to say but you want Ubuntu to be Windows, which is not going to happen tomorrow... :-(



    Ubuntu is based on Linux, and although it has "windows" than can be dragged around a "desktop" and that it adheres to the CUA like Windows, it's just not the same thing! Asking for something and ruling out all possible answers is just going to leave you with an answer like this:



    Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but what you're asking for is impossible...






    share|improve this answer


























    • It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 18:46













    • However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 19:40











    • @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

      – Fabby
      Feb 21 '15 at 20:10













    • Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 21:25








    • 1





      @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

      – jnovacho
      Feb 21 '15 at 22:05
















    4














    I'm very sorry to say but you want Ubuntu to be Windows, which is not going to happen tomorrow... :-(



    Ubuntu is based on Linux, and although it has "windows" than can be dragged around a "desktop" and that it adheres to the CUA like Windows, it's just not the same thing! Asking for something and ruling out all possible answers is just going to leave you with an answer like this:



    Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but what you're asking for is impossible...






    share|improve this answer


























    • It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 18:46













    • However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 19:40











    • @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

      – Fabby
      Feb 21 '15 at 20:10













    • Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 21:25








    • 1





      @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

      – jnovacho
      Feb 21 '15 at 22:05














    4












    4








    4







    I'm very sorry to say but you want Ubuntu to be Windows, which is not going to happen tomorrow... :-(



    Ubuntu is based on Linux, and although it has "windows" than can be dragged around a "desktop" and that it adheres to the CUA like Windows, it's just not the same thing! Asking for something and ruling out all possible answers is just going to leave you with an answer like this:



    Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but what you're asking for is impossible...






    share|improve this answer















    I'm very sorry to say but you want Ubuntu to be Windows, which is not going to happen tomorrow... :-(



    Ubuntu is based on Linux, and although it has "windows" than can be dragged around a "desktop" and that it adheres to the CUA like Windows, it's just not the same thing! Asking for something and ruling out all possible answers is just going to leave you with an answer like this:



    Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but what you're asking for is impossible...







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Dec 28 '18 at 21:44

























    answered Feb 21 '15 at 17:48









    FabbyFabby

    26.6k1360159




    26.6k1360159













    • It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 18:46













    • However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 19:40











    • @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

      – Fabby
      Feb 21 '15 at 20:10













    • Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 21:25








    • 1





      @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

      – jnovacho
      Feb 21 '15 at 22:05



















    • It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 18:46













    • However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 19:40











    • @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

      – Fabby
      Feb 21 '15 at 20:10













    • Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

      – Hontvári Levente
      Feb 21 '15 at 21:25








    • 1





      @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

      – jnovacho
      Feb 21 '15 at 22:05

















    It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:46







    It is definitely not impossible. I am also somewhat interested in adding functionality to the Linux keyboard behaviour, specifically adding real Unicode keys (i.e. I would like to use characters of multiple languages without dead keys, Compose key, Ctrl+Shuft+U etc.). However, this will be a long term hobby project, because it seems the keyboard handling code is scattered over the kernel, X, console code.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 18:46















    However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 19:40





    However, I think that the Compose key is much better than ALT + numpad, if most required characters have a Compose sequence. And even if not, AFAIK it can be customized.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 19:40













    @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

    – Fabby
    Feb 21 '15 at 20:10







    @HontváriLevente Nothing is impossible in FLOSS! What I should have said was: "You're not going to get this done without programming skills and getting Linus Torvalds himself to accept your code into the kernel"... ;-) "Impossible" is just the next best thing... >:)

    – Fabby
    Feb 21 '15 at 20:10















    Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 21:25







    Fair enough. I misread the question and assumed that jnovacho was ready to modify the driver, but he only wrote that he was ready to recompile it.

    – Hontvári Levente
    Feb 21 '15 at 21:25






    1




    1





    @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

    – jnovacho
    Feb 21 '15 at 22:05





    @HontváriLevente If the modification would mean to change few lines, for the most used keys (@, $, §) I would be okay with that. It's just that I don't have time and skill to do complete overhaul of kernel module. I will go with it's not possible. The other answers were how to do X the Y way, which was not something I wanted to know.

    – jnovacho
    Feb 21 '15 at 22:05













    0














    Although it's correct that you cannot type alt key codes, there is an alternative. You can enable the 'compose' key to enter special characters:



    How to enable compose key in Gnome



    Compose key combos






    share|improve this answer




























      0














      Although it's correct that you cannot type alt key codes, there is an alternative. You can enable the 'compose' key to enter special characters:



      How to enable compose key in Gnome



      Compose key combos






      share|improve this answer


























        0












        0








        0







        Although it's correct that you cannot type alt key codes, there is an alternative. You can enable the 'compose' key to enter special characters:



        How to enable compose key in Gnome



        Compose key combos






        share|improve this answer













        Although it's correct that you cannot type alt key codes, there is an alternative. You can enable the 'compose' key to enter special characters:



        How to enable compose key in Gnome



        Compose key combos







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Apr 29 '18 at 10:07









        mikeybmikeyb

        11




        11






























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